Washington, (Samajweekly) A group of Republican senators have said that they will object to the certification of the 2020 US presidential election results later this week, but the move will not change President-elect Joe Biden’s victory against sitting President Donald Trump, according to media reports and poll pundits.
However, Ted Cruz of Texas and 10 other Senate Republicans said in a statement on Saturday that they will vote against accepting the election results unless Congress appoints an Electoral Commission for “an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states”, reports Xinhua news agency
They intend to vote on Wednesday, when Congress convenes in a joint session to formally count the electoral votes, to reject the electors from what they called “disputed states”, unless and until that audit is completed, according to the statement.
The announcement came days after Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Trump ally, said that he will join a group of House Republicans to force a debate and vote on the Electoral College results.
Electors gathered in 50 states and the District of Columbia on December 14, 2020 to formally vote for the next President based on the popular ballots in their states.
Former Vice President Biden won 306 of the 538 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
To clinch the White House, a candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes.
Trump hasn’t conceded and is still pushing for claims of massive fraud, despite that dozens of attempts by his legal team and allies to challenge the results in some key states had been defeated, rejected, or tossed out.
Former Attorney General William Barr has said the Department of Justice had not seen evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election.
